BECOME AN ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY TOURISM SERVICE PROVIDER
By: Natalia Trita Agnika
Indonesia is a maritime country with the 2nd longest coastline in the world. The shape of the archipelago also makes Indonesia have extraordinary marine tourism potential. Not surprisingly, nowadays more and more marine tourism activities are being promoted. Some activities such as beach tourism, seascape tourism (yacht, cruise), snorkeling, and diving are the choices of tourists. The high interest in marine tourism increases economic potential. However, marine tourism can be a threat to the preservation of the archipelago's maritime if all actors in the industry are not willing to work together to conserve the environment.
Tourism service providers have an important role in this regard. They can give direction to tourists to be responsible and wise. A simple example is to always remind tourists not to litter and provide instructions on the location of available trash bins, of course separated between organic and inorganic waste bins. In addition, tour operators should also choose suppliers that provide environmentally friendly or ecolabel-certified products and prioritize local product suppliers. Tour operators have a role to play in minimizing the potential impacts of tourism activities carried out in the coastal and marine environment, for example by providing instructions on how to snorkel, dive and interact with animals responsibly.
September 27th was the anniversary of World Tourism Day (World Tourism Day). This moment reminds us again to work together to realize responsible marine tourism, both by tourism service providers and tourists.
Tourism service providers (operators, accommodation managers, transportation managers, culinary services, guide services, to local souvenir providers) can play a real role in protecting natural resources by joining SIGNING BLUE. The Signing Blue program, launched in September 2015, is a platform initiated by WWF-Indonesia in order to realize the practice and management of responsible marine ecotourism in Indonesia. Tourism service providers can join the Signing Blue program through www.signingblue.com..
Raising the slogan "Bringing Tourism to the Next Level", WWF-Indonesia provides several benefits to tourism service providers who are members of the Signing Blue platform, including a positive brand image because they have committed to become environmentally friendly tourism actors. Not only promoting the commitment, WWF-Indonesia will also provide technical support on responsible marine tourism procedures by experts from WWF-Indonesia. Running a responsible tourism business means being responsible for environmental conservation as well as social and cultural responsibility. Reducing negative environmental and social impacts will have a positive impact on the sustainability of the marine tourism business.
By being part of Signing Blue, tourism service providers mean helping to preserve and increase the potential of Indonesian marine tourism. Let's be responsible travelers and care about nature conservation.
